10:43 PM,
Dec. 9, 2013

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One evening when he was 15, Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey determined what his life's work would be. He bought a pair of cufflinks engraved with an "R," which would serve as a reminder "that I was to give my life to reforming certain mistakes and abuses."

Though Dewey, who was born Dec. 10, 1851, is best known for his reform of how libraries organize their materials - the Dewey Decimal Classification system that is now the most widely used method around the world - he did not limit his reformation efforts to how books should be shelved.

While in high school, Dewey worked as a door-to-door book salesman ...